Ballots to remain uncounted in MI and Stein blocked in Philly. Guest: Election integrity, law expert Paul Lehto says this proves 'only option is to get it right on Election Night'. Also: Trump taps climate denier, fossil-fuel tool for EPA...

[UPDATE 10/24/12: Virginia's Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will now be investigating after all, following a unanimous vote today of the State Board of Elections to refer the matter for a statewide criminal probe. Our concerns about Cuccinelli's conflicts of interest, as partially detailed below, still stand.]

Broader investigations are being sought, on a number of fronts, into the nationwide GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal including, finally, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Over the weekend, a Democratic state legislator in Virginia asked the state's Republican Attorney General to open a statewide probe, though AG Ken Cuccinelli has said he has no plans to carry one out. Given the photographs recently posted of Cuccinelli on Twitter (see below), that's probably a good thing.

On Monday, however, a number of Democratic U.S. Congress members from Virginia sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder seeking a nationwide investigation. Also, the three ranking Democrats of the U.S. House Judiciary, Elections and Oversight committees are pressing Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus for answers as to why his party hired a shady GOP operative with a long history of voter registration fraud allegations against him, and whether the RNC intends to truly cut ties with him, and his many companies working for Republicans across the country.

All of this comes on the heels of the GOP Voter Registration Scandal widening to Virginia last week, when 23-year old Colin Small was arrested and charged with 8 felonies and 5 misdemeanors after being seen allegedly dumping voter registration forms into a dumpster near a shopping mall in Harrisonburg.

Small, a Pennsylvania resident who claimed on his LinkedIn profile to be a "Grassroots Field Director" for the Republican National Committee, had been hired to do voter registration work by Strategic Allied Consulting, a company formed this summer at the request of the RNC and headed by Nathan Sproul, a shady GOP operative and paid political consultant for Mitt Romney's campaign.

The firm was supposedly fired by the RNC late last month after hundreds of apparently fraudulent registration forms collected by the company on behalf of the Republican Party of Florida were discovered by election officials in some twelve counties in the Sunshine State. The RNC had reportedly paid Sproul's firm at least $3 million since August to carry out voter registration efforts in five battleground states, including VA, despite many years of allegations that his companies had destroyed Democratic registration forms in a number of states.

The arrest of Small revealed that the supposed firing was a deception, as Sproul's employees and Republican voter registration machine were kept in place, but run by local GOP officials and paid by PinPoint Staffing, one of the employment agencies Sproul tells The BRAD BLOG he had used in a number of states...

Virginia investigation (or lack thereof)

Over the weekend, despite the arrest of Small, Virginia's Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said his office has no plans at this time to investigate the GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal.

On Monday, in response to Democratic state Senator Donald McEachin's request for a statewide investigation, Cuccinnelli explained [PDF], that his "hand are tied."

"An investigation into this matter is absolutely warranted, and the local authorities are currently conducting one," Cuccinelli wrote to McEachin. However, he added, "my office does not have the state authority to investigate election matters unless explicitly requested to do so by the State Board of Elections, a local commonwealth's attorney, or a local electoral board member."

"No such request has been made to date," he added, "and therefore, by law, I do not have the authority to undertake the investigation you have suggested."

In any case, based on Cuccinelli's apparent conflict of interest with the state Republican Party, as demonstrated by the photos posted below, it's probably just as well that his office is not the one to carry out such an investigation.

In the days just prior to Small's arrest last week, the state Attorney General was seen, according to photos posted to his Twitter feed and that of the Harrisonburg, VA Republican Party, making a visit to rally workers at the local GOP "Victory office".

Small is seen in the photos at the Harrisonburg office along with Cuccinelli.

"Our team of door knockers are about to hit the streets for @vavictory!!", the twitter account for the Harrisonburg GOP HQ trumpeted in early October, after Sproul's firm had supposedly been fired. The tweet included the following photo, with Small is seen in the light blue shirt at far left:

And then Cuccinelli's account tweeted just after that: "Packed house at the Harrisonburg Victory office persuading voters to elect #RomneyRyan2012." The following photo was attached to Cuccinelli's tweet, with the AG seen in the middle of the photo and Small seen again in his light blue shirt at left:

While Cuccinelli's office, given the obvious conflict of interest, would not be an appropriate body to investigate the matter, the question still remains as to why --- since both the Republican AG and a Democratic state Senator each agree that an investigation is warranted --- the State Board of Elections has yet to request such an investigation from state officials.

We've inquired with the SBE and will update this article with their response when we receive one. But, over the weekend, Virginia Registrar Brandi Lilly was quoted by Richmond's CBS 6 claiming that "There’s no way to tell by party when people fill out these forms, what party they’re affiliated with, so I don’t think there’s any political motivation."

Lilly is likely wrong. As we detailed in an investigative report some weeks ago, which included video taped and other evidence, Sproul had trained his workers to deceive prospective registrants by acting as if they were pollsters, rather than registration workers, until they could determine their political leanings.

Sproul said his company hires temporary workers at $12 to $17 an hour to register Republicans by asking people outside libraries and other public places who they support in the election. If the person supports Romney, the worker asks if the person is registered to vote, and registers them if they are not.

If the person supports Obama, the worker moves on without offering to register the individual to vote, Sproul said.

As we detailed, that same invidious tactic was seen being carried out by Sproul's workers in a number of states including Colorado, Nevada, Florida and even in Virginia, where a late September report by CBS 6 cited Chesterfield County, VA General Registrar Larry Haake explaining that he had received complaints of Strategic employees doing the very same thing in a local library.

"They were responsible for people that appeared in some libraries in Chesterfield County, supposedly to conduct voter registration drives," Haake said, "but they were asking voters for whom they are going to vote."

Haake says he informed the GOP of the incident at the time, but, apparently, no action was taken.

As Small was likely to have been continuing the training he received from Strategic, there is every reason to believe that he knew if the registrants were likely voters for Romney or Obama.

Federal investigation sought

In the meantime, U.S. Congressmen James Moran, Gerry Connolly and Robert Scott, all from Virginia, sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, urging the Department of Justice to "conduct a multi-state investigation to determine if a pattern of voting registration irregularities related to Strategic Allied Consulting are connected and constitute a broader conspiracy of voter registration fraud."

The Democratic members write that "The number of allegations in a multitude of locations would seem to suggest something more than the isolated acts of 'a few bad apples.'"

Citing the continuing operations of PinPoint, for whom Small was allegedly working at the time of his arrest, the Representatives note their concern "that the alleged illegal practices" of Strategic Allied Consulting "may be continuing under its subsidiary Pinpoint."

They conclude their letter to Holder: "We respectfully request the Justice Department to assume the responsibility and conduct its own investigation, given the mounting evidence that one company may have been engaged in a similar multi-state effort to commit voter registration fraud. We believe the circumstances warrant a broader federal review."

Earlier this month, despite claims that the RNC had cut ties with Sproul, The BRAD BLOG detailed evidence that his companies were still operating on behalf of Republicans and Rightwing causes in at least 10 states. The following day, the Los Angeles Times quoted Sproul's crisis spokesman David Leibowitz claiming his client's firms were still "hiring workers for a voter canvassing operation this fall in as many as 30 states".

Liebowitz walked back that assertion days later, telling us: "What we said on the record to various media outlets is that his companies are working in 'as many as 30 states.' That could mean 1 state. Or 2. Or 30. You get the idea, I'm sure." The idea, we're sure, is that Sproul intends to continue his multi-million dollar operations for Republicans in the dark, for as long as he can continue to get away with it.

On Friday, Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-TX), Ranking Member of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Elections released a statement following the arrest of Small, calling for "full disclosure" from the RNC in light of their previous claims that they had cut ties with Sproul's operation due to a supposed "zero tolerance" policy for election fraud.

Citing the RNC's continuing relationship with PinPoint and the employees hired and trained by Sproul and Strategic Allied Consulting --- a company that Sproul says he was asked by the RNC to secretly create without his name on it, due to the reputation that his other companies have garnered for similar misdeeds over the years --- Gonzalez called the matters "deeply troubling."

"Less than three weeks before Election Day, individuals connected to a major political party stand accused of malicious and felonious interference with the electoral process," he wrote. "We know of hundreds of suspicious registration forms. We know of attempts to destroy legitimate registration forms. We do not know how many other misdeeds remain to be discovered. We have moved beyond just making polite inquiries."

"The Republican National Committee needs to act and to do so promptly. By choosing to affiliate with a man with Nathan Sproul’s reputation, the RNC has forfeit any benefit of the doubt in such matters. Only complete disclosure can adequately address this situation. Give the American people the facts so that they can make up their own minds. Give prosecutors and police the facts so they can properly investigate these allegations and bring all appropriate charges. And give election officials the facts so that they can take the steps necessary to ensure that no American citizen is denied their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote."

Following on a letter sent to RNC Chair Reince Priebus last month by Gonzalez, Rep. John Conyers, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Elijah Cummings, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asking a number of questions about the RNC's decision to hire Sproul, the members sent a follow up letter [PDF] after Small's arrest on Friday.

The new letter asks the RNC Chairman if the Republican Party "will now cut all ties to PinPoint and all of Mr. Sproul's various operations?"

It also includes a reminder to Priebus that they expect answers to their previous letter.

"The American people have a right to know whether the RNC intentionally hired, or knew its contractors and subsidiaries had hired, companies and contractors with shady records of past voter registration fraud and then directed them to conceal those records despite public claims of 'zero tolerance'," the Congressmen write.

"Too many men and women have given their lives fighting for the right to vote, from the battlefields of Lexington and Concord to the streets of Jackson, Mississippi, for this nation to countenance actions that threaten the integrity of our elections or the right of eligible American citizens to participate in them."

The initial letter to Priebus had requested answers by October 16th. Those answers, House staffers have told The BRAD BLOG, have yet to be delivered by the RNC Chairman.

CORRECTION: In the photo above, taken at the Harrisonburg, VA GOP "Victory office", we had initially highlighted the wrong man as Ken Cuccinelli. He is, in fact, the one in the blue blazer. We have modified the highlighting on that photo now to correct the initial error, which we regret.

This election, and those that follow, may be determined by whether this crime is fully investigated --- regardless of the result of the investigation. Those engaged in registration fraud and/or election fraud feel they are able to commit felons with impunity. Those who give them orders and pay them also feel they are above the law --- and so far they have been. The chance of being caught and going to prison may have a deterrent effect that does not now exist.

Brad, please fix one thing. AG Cuccinelli is in the blue blazer, not the blue shirt.

Also, you ran a story in January 2012 when Newt Gingrich failed to make it on the Virginia primary ballot because over 1500 of his required 10k signatures to get on the ballot had allegedly been faked. The Gingrich campaign allegedly attributed it to one (unnamed) person. AG Cuccinelli was asked to investigate by the Virginia Elections Board. Cuccinelli said he would, but no result or closure was ever mentioned? What happened?

You'll also recall that only Romney and Ron Paul made it onto the VA ballot. Rick Perry also had a signature problem.... Was Mitt "anointed" to be the GOP candidate even way back then? Something is really fishy here.

i thought the one "rule" against the pac money thing was that it could not be coordinated with candidates or parties.....with sproul working so closely with the rnc and roves super pac sharing office space,how can this not be illegal?

on this seperate but connected issue of wether small is prosecuted,he had better be or we are lost forever

with similiar stuff being reported in iowa,altho there it seems to be "glitches" in electronic registration maybe we need to press for an executive order to allow same day registration nationwide

One question, Brad. Why is Sproul talking to you and revealing his methods? He has received millions from the RNC to engage in these dirty tricks --- why is he making no effort at a cover up?

Who says he is making no effort at cover up? Who says talking to me isn't part of the effort?

That said, my conversations with Sproul have been off record, then on record, then back off record again once his new crisis response manager stepped in to cut him off.

I've only gotten certain details from Sproul and, in many cases, he's refused to answer follow up questions, some of which ask about evidence which contradict his claims. If I was not able to get answers to those questions, in general, I have not included his responses in my reporting.

I'd add one more point, for now. When I first made contact w/ Sproul, he said that though he disagrees with my politics, he's read The BRAD BLOG for a long time, and admires our passion and believes me to be a straight-shooter. Whether that is what leads him to speak with me from time to time, or a belief that it is helpful to him to have me report his comments is up to others to decide. I do, however, try to be measured in what information I pass along to the public, from him, since I'm happy to tell his side of the story, but won't be simply a propaganda mouthpiece for it --- as I'm sure he knows by now.

Also, you ran a story in January 2012 when Newt Gingrich failed to make it on the Virginia primary ballot because over 1500 of his required 10k signatures to get on the ballot had allegedly been faked. The Gingrich campaign allegedly attributed it to one (unnamed) person. AG Cuccinelli was asked to investigate by the Virginia Elections Board. Cuccinelli said he would, but no result or closure was ever mentioned? What happened?

You have a very good memory

I do not yet have an update on that story, at this point. But thanks for the reminder.

Check into Reince Priebus's college ties to Wis Assemblyman GOP Robin Vos. Mr. Vos has ethics charges pending with Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board, is tied to state Tea Party and RW Catholic church, is the state ALEC chair, and is in tight with AFP. He's the conduit to Reince and continued election fraud with Sproul's flunkies in Wisconsin. You won't regret digging into Mr. Vos, I promise.

Brad, Ken Cuccinelli is somewhere to the right of Atilla the Hun, but with less ethics. He's the real mastermind of the backdoor methodology behind all the war on women being conducted here in VA, not to mention he has a hard-on against anything gay and lesbian that surpasses all rationality.

Don't underestimate his willingness and ability to do pretty much anything to please the high GOP holy men in this, to avoid making them look bad - especially since he wants very much to be VA's next governor, which will mean needing funding help. He may SAY he'll probe this voter fraud thing, but watch him - he will undermine it every chance he gets.

... the diary is from a Dem point of view but the description of the voter purge seems to fit classic GOP patterns to a T. The diarist has already been corrected on election fraud vs voter fraud and has changed the diary title but apparently the link url can't be changed.

OT too...
The Texas attorney general, Greg Abbott, has threatened to arrest international election monitors invited by liberal groups to observe the conduct of next month's presidential vote in states accused of attempting to disenfranchise minorities.http://www.guardian.co.u...arrest-election-monitors

He can't do that can he? He calls them liberal groups? This left/right label is not helping the situation at all.

Not that I had expected anything meaningful to come of this recent news of the "VA scandal" but the chances have decreased significantly with a new video, apparently an O'Keefe production.

The video presumably shows the son of U.S. Congressmen James Moran, field director of his father's reelection campaign, explaining techniques of voter fraud. This guy is a true "moran" in the teabag sense.

The son resigned from his father's campaign. Lest it be missed, James Moran was one of three "Democratic U.S. Congress members from Virginia (who) sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder seeking a nationwide investigation" into the alleged GOP voter registration fraud scandal.

Someone please explain to me, then to the FOX Terror Network, that this is a hoax!

My earlier comments still stand. Cuccinelli promised and started a probe of Gingrich's fraudulent signatures up in January. But there have been no reports or updates since January. What happened? Not very reassuring.

And Brad, owing to the Cooch's apparent conflict of interest you show in photos, the Cooch's should recuse himself, entirely and let professional staff do this investigation.

I posted this link in Mike Malloy chatroom on Bradblog Oct 30, 2012.
James O'Keefe sent one of his gotcha videographers to entrap Jim Moran's son into a 'voter fraud' scheme to discredit and delegitimize Jim Moran and others who want more investigation into the trashing of Democratic voter registration forms in Va and nationally. This video will unfortunately live on in internet comment boards as the 'false equivalence' to stop the Sproul voter registration scandal from taking votes away from Rpblicons. Ken Cuccinelli may run for Governor next year, Va gov incumbents cannot serve consecutive terms, and this voter registration fraud scandal could hurt that future campaign. O'Keefe video is yet another 'news virus' and distraction.